Find Fisheries expertise in Seychelles

The Seychelles has a water area of 1.3 million km² a shelf area of 50,000 km², and a coastline of 600km, and like most island nations, fisheries plays an important role in the economy. Fisheries, as part of agriculture and forestry account for 2% of the GDP, while the fish canning industry, primarily tuna processing, contributes 15% to GDP and employs 17% of the workforce (2010, World Bank). Indian Ocean Tuna Limited, the world’s second-largest tuna factory, is the single largest employer in Seychelles. Fisheries were estimated to employ about 2000 people in the primary sector, and about 3600 in the secondary sector in 2005. The Seychelles is a net exporter of fish products, exporting about $211million in 2003, while only importing about $68 million. Canned tuna contributes 86% of total export in Seychelles.

The sector is composed of artisanal fisheries, carried out by local fishers, the semi-industrial fishery, and industrial fisheries. The artisanal fishery mainly targets demersal fish, with a catch profile including snappers, green jobfish, groupers, emperors and the semi-demersal trevally which is the most commonly caught. By far the most important fishery is the hand line fishery accounting for 73% of fish landings, followed by the trap fishery.

The semi-industrial fisheries’ catch profile consists mainly of swordfish and tuna stocks, though swordfish is the predominant catch accounting for 60% of the catch profile.

The industrial fishery is largely foreign owned vessels targeting mainly surface swimming tuna such as skipjack and yellowfin, and long line fishery targeting deep swimming big-eye and yellowfin tuna.

The limited availability of land and water limits the aquaculture industry to mariculture, of which there are currently three major projects producing giant black tiger prawns, giant clams, and pearl oysters.

Seychelles signed an agreement with the European Union to allow EU countries to fish in their waters, primarily Spain, Portugal, France and Italy. Japanese and Taiwanese-owned vessels also frequent the Seychelles EEZ.

The Seychelles Fishing Authority (SFA) promotes and develops the industry and resources in Seychelles, and is responsible for management, planning, development, scientific research and training functions as well as regulatory functions regarding fishing operations in the EEZ. Another important stakeholder in the fisheries sector is the Fishing Boat Owner’s Association (FBOA) which aims to create a dialogue with government authorities to improve transparency and improve the relationship between the SFA and the fishing community. The British/Seychelles Fisheries Commission (BSFC) was established to promote, facilitate and coordinate conservation and scientific research. The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) which aims to control the excessive discards at sea of juvenile skipjack, yellowfin and bigeye tuna. Finally, the South West Indian Fishery Commission (SWIOFC) is an FAO body established in 2004, whose main objective is to promote the sustainable utilization of living marine resources in the zone falling under its jurisdiction. The commission also addresses the problems of fisheries management and development that member states are facing.